Till Death Do Us Part (And Even That Won't Stop Me)
by marykayle
Summary: They needed different strategy to take Hawkmoth down. Ladybug is the smart one in the duo, so she comes up with the brilliant idea. Which is to fake her death. The only problem? She forgot to tell Chat Noir about her plan.
1. Chapter 1

_Ladybug and Chat Noir are watching the dinosaur lying on the ground with tied legs._

 _"Well, that's weird, we didn't have to use this," says Ladybug, looking at her Lucky Charm - a car jack. "What does that mean?"_

 _"Well, I guess it only means we rock as a team," answers Chat Noir confidently, heading towards the T-Rex. Ladybug suddenly comes up to the realization._

 _"Chat Noir, wait!" She yanks him backwards by his tail. "I know what to do," she says, and she is off towards the akuma._

 _"Ladybug!" cries Chat Noir. She ignores him. She is totally concentrated on the task._

 _"Bon appetite, T-Rex!" she shouts almost victoriously, and her partner is left to watch in horror how she jumps right into the dinosaur's mouth. Its jaws come together, mainly by instinct, right after her._

 _"Nooooo!" Chat Noir is scared, he is in panic, he can't understand. "You're so gonna pay for this!" That's certainly a given._

 _Akuma's eyes widen in pain, and the boy watches with immense relief how Ladybug sets the car jack the way to hold dinosaur's jaws fixed apart. Ladybug breaks the bracelet, purifies the akuma and settles everything in order in Paris. She then turns to her partner._

 _"Pound it?"_

 _He can't take it anymore, and instead of fist bump he gives her a hug._

 _"Ladybug! It was a wild ride..."_

 _She relaxes in his arms, wanting to savor the moment, but his ring beeps in warning. One pad left._

 _"Oops, better take my whiskers away," he says and in a moment he is gone._

 _Ladybug watches him, warmth spreading over all her body, smile on her face._

 _"See you next time, Chat Noir."_

After fighting alongside with Ladybug for more than a year now, it is still the most vivid memory of his lady in Chat Noir's mind.

Not even the moment he realized he was in love with her can compare to that. Then, in the beginning, she was the embodiment of confidence and strength, and it should have been Chat's brightest memory of Ladybug due to all logical things, but he just loves her too much and pays way lot of attention to her, so there are a lot of moments like this to him.

So his brightest memory of her stays the scariest one. The one where he almost _lost_ her forever.

Chat hopes it doesn't change.

But apparently, fate has other plans.

Marinette was smart. Well, maybe not quite enough to figure out her partner's identity when it was right under her nose, but still. Smart enough to figure out how to use her Lucky Charm, where the akuma is hiding and who is the akumatized person.

Smart enough to understand that for taking down Hawkmoth they needed different strategy.

So one Sunday morning she sat down with her notebook and a pen and started thinking.

Hawkmoth wanted their miraculous. Given fact. What he had to do with them was an unsolved mystery, but Marinette wasn't focused on this right now. What else?..

That's when she realized that they knew nothing more for sure. Nothing else about his motives and aims, so she and Chat Noir had to work with that single fact.

If Hawkmoth wanted the miraculous, started Marinette another thought, then what can be done about this fact to stop him? Giving him what he wanted was certainly not the way. Convincing the villain that he didn't need their jewelry seemed stupid and unattainable.

...Unattainable?

What if... What if their miraculous became unattainable? Putting on a show, making one of those disappear? Marinette waved away that thought. Hawkmoth would still look for it. He had to believe it was gone forever.

...gone forever...

It was a moment of perfect clarity, when Marinette knew for sure what to do. What _would_ work against Hawkmoth's goals.

She had to fake her death.

God, it was going to be a _very_ complicated mission.

Ladybug just hoped for it to work out.

The opportunity presented itself three weeks later.

The akuma called itself Fire Fury and was causing fires and explosions, but luckily still didn't hurt any civilians. Still, it was aiming to get to College Francóis-Dupont and destroy the school for whatever reason.

All the students were already evacuated from the building, most of them watching the fight by Alya's side, who was filming the whole thing. Ladybug and Chat Noir tried at least to distract Fire Fury, but it was evident that their attempts were in vain.

"I will get my sweet, _hot_ revenge!" shouted the akuma, throwing something similar to fireball in the school's direction.

Upon hitting one of the walls, the fire _exploded_ , causing one of the classrooms flash like a paper plane. Fire Fury watched it for a moment with a satisfied smirk playing on her face.

That moment was enough for Chat Noir to cataclysm her jacket. Evil butterfly flew out of the possessed object. Ladybug caught her, de-evilized and set free with her usual 'bye-bye, little butterfly'.

She almost regretted the missed opportunity. Fire Fury was violent enough to be a perfect excuse for faking her death. Ladybug glanced at her Lucky Charm - a shield which she tried to use, but it still felt like she was doing it wrong.

A scream could be heard from the room which was still on fire. Right! Ladybug thought. I purified the akuma, but still haven't erased her effects.

Now THAT was a perfect excuse. Despite the logical decision - tossing the shield in the air and fixing the mess - Ladybug flew herself in the open window of the room.

Of course it was Chloé who was left behind. That girl just loved causing troubles, didn't she?

"Ladybug! Help!" the blonde cried out, being cornered by fire.

The spotted heroine jumped on the bookcase and yo-yoed Chloé out of the fire and down on relatively safe ground.

Tick-tock.

The girls'eyes narrowed on the source of the sound.

Little ball, hardly even on fire anymore, ticking ten seconds to zero.

Ladybug barely had time think, she had to act.

The girl subtly dropped a pair of earrings, exact replica of hers, to the ground. (Once she chose to fake her death, she immediately made a pair and took them everywhere with her. Made of iron, they weren't easy to destroy.)

She shoved Chloé out of the classroom and put her on the ground one floor lower in the hall, facing the ground.

"Gotta stop that thing!" Ladybug shouted, and Chloé heard the zip of yo-yo pulling Ladybug upwards.

'What does she think she is doing? She is going to die!' were blonde's ultimately scared thoughts. Surely Ladybug always managed to win, but this time?.. It was very stupid of her.

Meanwhile, once upstairs, Ladybug ran as fast and as quietly as she could away from the fire. Four... Three... Two... She threw herself on the ground, putting the shield above herself. One...

 ** _BOM_**!

The explosion was earth-shattering. She hoped Chloé was okay... But the mission was still incomplete, she had other things to worry about.

"Miraculous Ladybug," the heroine whispered, tossing the shield only several centimeters in the air. "Tikki, spots off."

With all her luck, the door next to her turned out to be girls' bathroom. Marinette managed to open the door quietly and roll in the bathroom, still not standing up. Only once inside, door closed, the girl pulled herself on her feet and let out a breath. It went perfect.

"Pound it," she whispered to herself.

" **LADYBUG!** "

Two equally terrified voices reached Marinette's ears. First Chloé's from the downside, second ...

The second belonged to Chat Noir, who she assumed was now in that classroom.

" **LADYBUG, NO!** "

The crowd outside gasped at the implication of Chat Noir's cry. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath.

" **MY LADY! NO, YOU CAN'T! LADYBUG! Ladybug! La-dy...** "

OH MY GOD, realized Marinette with growing horror. I'm the worst partner in the world. I...

I forgot to tell Chat Noir about my death.

She hoped, she prayed that her kitty would survive it.

The crowd downstairs exploded in the mix of terror cries, gasps and tears.

Marinette's heart sank down.

What had she done?!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: WARNING: depictions of violence (in only two sentences nearly at the beginning, in case of what if, but still the warning)

Not even two minutes after the explosion students and teachers started rushing back inside, still not believing what was happening.

Alya was almost the first to fly inside the classroom, holding her phone up mostly out of habit than on her own will.

The view presented to her was almost the last thing she wanted to see.

Chat Noir sat on the floor with a mix of horror and fury on his face. If that expression wasn't scary enough, then the fact that he was clutching Ladybug's earrings, her EARRINGS, without the owner herself, was too much to handle.

"They... are lifeless," Chat whispered in horror. "Lifeless! That means..." His breath hitched in the throat, and it was visible that he was forcing himself to speak. "Means... That... Ladybug is **_ABSOLUTELY_** d-dead."

Those two words were met with complete silence. One could sense the fear of the whole crowd caused by implications of that fact.

Ladybug was gone. Only Chat Noir could protect them now. And he was in no condition to do that.

Hawkmoth was presented a brilliant opportunity to attack now.

Alya was sure that if Chat was able to see Ladybug's dead body, he would have screamed and tried to bring her back to life. But he had nothing. Apparently, miraculous cure decided to take her body away.

Maybe it was a good thing. Alya wasn't sure that anyone could deal with... Well, her very injured body.

Or parts of it.

"It's even worse than it seems," Chat whispered on the edge of tears. "Not only the girl behind Ladybug mask died, but her..." He almost said 'kwami'. Too much information! "The source of her power is also dead."

Beep-beep. One pad left on the ring. Chat turned to face the students.

"I..." His voice betrayed him, so the boy simply turned to the window and vaulted himself away.

Alya pressed stop on the record button.

"Oh my..." She sobbed. "A... A minute of silence for our hero's remembrance..."

Surprisingly, her voice was heard, even if it was unsteady and quiet. People lowered their heads in appreciation, each digesting the fact that one half of Paris's lucky duo was gone forever.

By the end of the minute, tears were on everyone's faces, some silent, some sobbing quietly, the others so eaten by grief that they visibly trembled from the unstopping flood of tears. Unable to handle more, students and teachers began slowly leaving the classroom. In several minutes, there were only Alya and Chloé left inside.

Marinette slowly approached her crying friend from behind.

"Hey, Alya," She whispered softly. "Maybe things are better than they seem..."

"Marinette, it's the end of the world."

It was like a kick in the stomach to hear those words. Not true, not true, not true, chanted Marinette in her head.

"Alya, it's not. We're still alive and we're gonna be fine. Sure, it's a great tragedy, but we will get over it. We all just need some time."

"Girl, but... What about Hawkmoth?" The journalist managed to choke out between loud sobs.

"He's gonna stop once he realizes that his goal is unattainable," Marinette told her softly.

Alya sobbed once more, then lifted her head and looked at her friend, really looked at her as if she was seeing the girl for the first time after some big revelation.

"Marinette... Do you think that Ladybug sacrificed herself to stop Hawkmoth?"

That was close to the truth.

"Yes," She said firmly. "Come on, she could just toss her Lucky Charm in the air right after cleansing the akuma and fix everything, but instead she jumped into the fire! There has to be some logic in her actions!"

"All that just to save me."

Chloé was looking at Alya and Marinette, speaking for the first time in the last half an hour.

And boy, was she completely horrified.

The blonde inhaled deeply before speaking once again.

"They will all hate me once they realize it's all _**MY**_ fault. That **_I'M_** the one responsible for **_HER_** death."

Never in her life had Marinette seen Chloé so utterly miserable. She hated to admit it, but it was partly her fault for putting her in this state.

The state wasn't much better than Chat Noir was in.

"Chloé, everyone could be in your place. It's not your fault here. Ladybug decided for some reason that jumping into the fire would be more appropriate than just cleansing the side effects, and you had almost nothing to do with that."

Was she really comforting her worst rival after Hawkmoth?

Yes. She was.

Alya and Chloé apparently seemed to decide that universe was turned upside down, looking at her in complete disbelief. Nevertheless, Chloé answered.

"Key word is 'almost', Marinette."

Gabriel Agreste was sitting in his office, deep in thought.

"Tell me, Nooroo," He finally sighed. "Why did Ladybug happen to be so stupid not only to aimlessly kill herself, but take the source of her power with her?"

"I have no idea, Master," replied his kwami solemnly. "Maybe she sacrificed herself to stop you, because Chat Noir's miraculous on its own has a very limited power. Or she was just being careless."

"To stop me?" Gabriel hummed in thought. "All I want is my wife back. I miss Emma dearly. And Adrien misses her, too. We need Emma back, because without her we're nothing. Life is not exactly worth living, you know? We're like Chat Noir now without Ladybug. Completely alone."

"You have each other though, master. You know," carefully said Nooroo, "you could always just ask them instead of trying to take their jewelry away. Miraculous which are gathered against someone's will have much less power."

Gabriel sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Anyway, there's no point in that now. Ladybug is dead, and there's nothing we can do. Only wait, and pray that her kwami survived it."

Nooroo subtly exhaled in relief. At least it was some progress. At least he was not going to send another akuma at poor Ladybug's partner.

Adrien detransformed behind the nearest corner.

"Plagg..."

He couldn't take it anymore, he broke down in tears, sliding down the wall and hugging his knees. Plagg floated near his chosen silently, knowing perfectly well that the boy just needed to cry out all his tears.

"We need to get home," The kwami reminded him an hour later. "I know it feels like the end of the world, and in some sense it is. Time doesn't heal all wounds, kid, so I won't make any promises to you, but at least it'll get better eventually. Now, stand up. We need to get home," He repeated.

"I can't believe she's **_DEAD_** ," breathed out Adrien. "Plagg, she was so young... Why did I let her go in that fire? Why didn't I stop her? I was supposed to protect my lady, not... be part of the reason of her death. It would have been better...better if I'd died. There's no point in life without her anyway."

"Cliché," Plagg winced. How do you subtly tell the kid that his lady is probably not as dead as she wants to show? "You're needed to protect Paris. Besides, there's always a possibility of her being alive, don't you dare ever forget that one."

Adrien clenched his teeth.

"Now you're giving me the false hope. That's cruel."

Plagg rolled his eyes.

"I'm literally an ancient demigod with the power of destruction. Creation is my other half, and she has a name. Tikki. And more important, she has a life. Which can't be taken away. Demigods are not that easy to kill, you know."

"So you're telling me that Ladybug's kwami is alive?" The mere thought was like a ray of sunshine through the clouds to Adrien. If it was true, there was a slim chance to at least know the name of the girl he was fighting alongside with against Hawkmoth. And maybe there was a way to bring her back to life...

"She can't be dead, so yeah."

"Then..." The boy frowned, looking at the earrings in his palm, "Why isn't she with her miraculous now?"

"She is," shrugged Plagg.

"Then why can't I see her? Ladybug didn't take off the miraculous willingly, so Tikki shouldn't have disappeared. Right?"

"You're right on that one, Adrien. Tikki IS with her earrings now. Which are not here. What you're holding in your hands is nothing more than a high-quality copy of her jewelry."

Plagg watched as the new information sank in his boy's mind.

"But... Where are the real ones?"


	3. Chapter 3

AN: sorry guys it took that long! I had a lot going on in my life. Anyway, I hope next update won't take longer than a week

The next day at school was not something Marinette was prepared for.

She was exhausted from yesterday's events. Mom and dad kindly asked her in the evening to go with them so they could put the flowers to the place where Ladybug heroically gave her life away.

As expected, it took quite a while. Marinette didn't exactly mind that, but Chat Noir chose exactly the same time to patrol the city. She desperately wanted to reach him somehow, to tell that she was okay, but she couldn't leave her parents. Not this time.

(After hearing that Ladybug can possibly be alive, Adrien transformed and went out to look for her, hoping that his lady would find a way to contact him, subtly or not, either in her civilian identity or using someone to tell him.

She didn't, and he almost lost any hope, but still told himself that maybe she would do it tomorrow. Or the next day after tomorrow. Or just some day in his aimless life.)

The whole city was truly in grief. People never laughed or even smiled. It seemed like the whole life, hope and the sense of being safe has vanished with one of the heroes' death.

Marinette hated all of this. Not only she was the reason behind it, but she also hurt badly two people she wanted to hurt the least.

Chat Noir, her partner (and so much more), and Alya, her best friend (and her biggest fan).

She had to watch them falling into pieces. Chat, whenever he was caught on the cameras, looked incredibly desperate - for what, she couldn't figure out, but guessed it was desperation for any sign of her or her kwami or even any news that were not utterly black. Alya, whom Marinette never saw even doubting anything seriously, was broken and utterly frightened. No one could blame them - superheroes weren't supposed to die. At least not like that.

Not like that.

Those words were everywhere. People didn't seem to believe that one half of the lucky duo - ironically, the lucky one - was gone forever. Not like that. But with all the evidence it was hard to believe otherwise.

The weekends passed, and people started building up the theories of how Ladybug could have survived, but seeing Chat Noir in the same state of grief didn't help their fantasy. If she was alive, she would have found a way to tell him. It was considered as a given.

It broke Marinette's heart, but she saw that if her partner knew she was alive, her plan would fail. And so she made the hardest decision in her life, repeating it like mantra in her head.

I will never tell Chat Noir that I'm alive until Hawkmoth gives up.

"Grief doesn't bring back people, master." Nooroo floated near Gabriel while the latest was deep in thoughts. "Look how many people want Ladybug back. If she was alive, if she could, she would have come. She is too devoted to Chat Noir to hurt his feelings like this."

"Stupid girl..." sighed Gabriel.

"Dead girl," corrected his kwami. "And you're the one who killed her. The one who made millions of people unhappy. And for what? Emma can't come back now, no matter what you do about it."

"I didn't kill her, she jumped to her death willingly," he cut off sternly.

"Just like your wife willingly exchanged her freedom for something that was much more important."

For the first time in his life Gabriel Agreste looked at it from the other side of the coin.

"Tell me what, Nooroo," he mused slowly, "what else can I do to save her?"

"You can quit your attempts in harming innocent people. Quit your miraculous and quit being Hawkmoth. Start looking for her, using other ways."

Gabriel thought for a minute and then sighed loudly.

"I'll think about it."

Between Alya, Nino and Adrien only Nino seemed to handle it somehow better. What made Marinette almost helpless was the fact that Adrien was even more down than Alya if it was even possible. Marinette did every single possible thing to cheer her friends up. She made up the theories of how Ladybug could've avoided her death (of course, nothing close to reality), said it was all part of a big plan against Hawkmoth and Chat surely knows what's up (at this Adrien chuckled unhappily), said endless 'come on, guys, it's not the end of the world' ('it is,' replied Adrien and Alya each time), tried to invite them for ice cream after school...

"Marinette," Adrien finally looked right into her eyes. She forced herself not to divert the gaze. "Look, we appreciate you being positive, but Ladybug is dead, and you can do nothing about it. We just need time to get over this fact."

"But what if she isn't?" Marinette borrowed all the courage to argue back, however trying to make her words soft.

"She is." Adrien stood firm at his point, but Marinette wasn't able to give up that easily.

"She isn't."

"She is."

"She isn't."

"She is."

"She isn't!"

"She is!"

"She isn't!"

"She isn't!"

"She is!"

"Aha! You said it yourself," Marinette grinned triumphantly, but the boy didn't seem to share her light mood.

"You know," said Adrien in a slow, dangerous voice, "giving people false hope is cruel, Marinette, no matter how good your intentions are."

She had never heard him like that before. But it was already too late to step back.

And so she went even further.

"I bet you," the girl said loud and clear in the silence that ringed around them. "I bet you, Adrien Agreste, that Ladybug, the Paris superhero with her miraculous, is safe, healthy and alive, and that her death was nothing more than a fake."

"Marinette..." gasped Alya.

Adrien's eyes narrowed down on her.

"How dare you... Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I hear you and I accept this bet under the following conditions: you have to prove your point in twenty four hours. Otherwise you'll regret your words, I promise you that."

Marinette might have died in that exact moment, but Adrien was not finished. He stood up from his chair, came closer to her and whispered to her in low, sweet voice so only she could hear.

"Believe me, I would have known if my lady was alive. Now you're making me extremely mad, and who knows how it will turn out for our Purr-incess..."

With that , he brushed his thumb with the ring across her cheek.

Despite her shock, Marinette managed to take a look at the ring.

Metal gray with a faint paw print.

My lady.

Purr-incess.

Oh no.

Overwhelmed with all the emotions from the fight and from the revelation, she somehow managed to compose herself to put the last point in the argument.

"Okay, but if YOU are wrong," Marinette said nonchalantly, though it took all her efforts, "you owe me a wish without any boundaries. And I mean ANY. Think you can handle this?"

His eyes still were cold and hiding the fury. "Absolutely."

"Great," she winked and subtly touched her earrings.

Just enough for him to notice the movement.

Before anything else could be said, Marinette was gone with only thought in her head. 'TikkiwhathaveIdone!'

AN: I think Adrien can be cold kind of angry when he is way too furious, idk


	4. Chapter 4

Even when Adrien got home, he couldn't calm himself down.

"Who does she think she is?" he wondered aloud, pacing in his room. "And what a bold move with touching the earrings, as if she knows where they are! I bet you, Plagg, Marinette is more evil than she pretends to be. Such a nice girl, always kind and smiling, never turned into akuma... I should have guessed earlier something was wrong with her!" Adrien let out a frustrated groan and threw himself on the bed.

"Whoa, kid, calm down," Plagg said in amused tone. "You haven't considered the possibility of this Marinette girl being right. I told you before, at least her kwami, Tikki, is immortal."

"But how could she possibly know that?"

Before Plagg could answer, Adrien jerked up upon hearing a strange sound outside. The kwami immediately shot out of the sight, and Adrien decided to stay somewhat hidden in the corner of the room just in case.

The strange sound continued and became even closer, as if someone was climbing the wall.

Ten seconds later he realized he forgot to close the window, which proved to be a huge mistake.

Marinette climbed into his room from the said window, took a couple of steps away from this exit and immediately spotted Adrien.

"You!" he shouted and shot forward in attempt to reach her, but Marinette reacted very quickly, missing his attack. "What are you doing here?"

Adrien tried once again to catch her, but in the blink of the eye she slipped out of his hands and climbed up the rock climbing wall.

"I came here to convince you that Ladybug is alive, as I said!" Marinette cried from the top of the wall. "I promised to prove you wrong, so here I am! Otherwise you won't even listen to me!"

The boy cursed under his breath and started climbing up after her.

"You had no right to break in!" he shot back.

Halfway through his way to her, Marinette jumped from the wall to the sofa and ran to the stairs.

"I also couldn't do that in public!"

Realizing she was no longer on the wall, Adrien pushed himself from the wall straight to the stairs, rolling on the floor to soften the move.

"Still, it's no excuse to break into people's houses!" he retorted, stopping just for a moment to look at her, already upstairs, before continuing the chase up the stairs.

"You are the one to talk, Chat Noir!" Marinette argued back from the second floor before reaching the pole and sliding down back to the first floor in two seconds.

Adrien stopped dead in his tracks. He completely forgot about giving himself away just to scare the girl. He slowly took several steps, repeating Marinette's track before going down the same way and stopping in front of the girl, who also stood still. Both were trying to catch their breath after the chase.

"You can't tell anyone," he almost whispered, though still in terrifying manner. "I wasn't myself, I was mad at you. Even though Ladybug is dead, it's still dangerous, giving my identity away. It will cut short any chances of winning against Hawkmoth. I hope you understand at least that."

"She's not dead, Chat Noir."

Maybe it was her saying his other name, maybe the calmness of her voice, but Adrien stopped arguing with Marinette, gesturing for her to make a move.

"Then prove it."

She took in a deep breath. Exhaled. Looked him into the eye.

The next moment was forever printed in his memory.

"Tikki," Marinette said, then paused for a brief second. Adrien's mind caught on the name of Ladybug's kwami, and he opened his mouth to ask her how she knew or what did she mean by it, but she wasn't done speaking. "Spots on."

Adrien closed his eyes to protect them from the blinding red light. When he opened them, Ladybug stood in Marinette's place.

He gasped and involuntary stumbled back, tripping over his feet and falling to the floor. When Adrien's brain finally caught with his body, he jumped back on his feet and stared at the girl in front of him with horror.

"My lady..."

Oh no. He accused her of giving him the false hope, he raised his voice at her, he chased her in attempt to teach her a lesson, he allowed himself to be mad at her... Another part of his brain finally seemed to realize that she was considered dead by millions of people, yet here she was, standing right in front of him.

"...but how?"

Ladybug was extremely nervous.

"I'm so sorry, Chat! I realized I forgot to tell you about my plan as soon as I heard you calling out for me, but then it was too late and I thought that it'll be better for my plan for Hawkmoth to really believe that you believed that I was dead and I regret all this I can't tell you how much..."

Adrien cut off her rambling by enveloping Ladybug in a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank god you're alive... Never ever scare me like that!" he cried, tears steaming down from his cheek.

Ladybug hugged him back with an equal force.

"I'm sorry, kitty, it will never repeat again, please forgive me if you can," she also had tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Bugaboo, I think we're equal here," Adrien sobbed, "I was not myself and I'm sorry you had to deal with my inappropriate behavior earlier. I can never pour into words how hard it is, living in this world without you."

"I know, Chat, I know..."

They stayed like that for several hours, holding each other as close as it was physically possible.

-p

"About that wish," said Marinette after being detransformed and ready to go home. "Please don't go out as Chat Noir at least for several days. Don't show any signs of knowledge that I'm alive in any of your identities. I need my plan to work, and I don't want you accidentally giving me away."

"I guess that makes sense, my lady," Adrien smiled a little.

"And Adrien?" Marinette turned around before climbing out of the window. "Make my life as Marinette miserable, as you promised."

Before he could respond, she disappeared the same way she came.

"Stupid girl," Adrien mumbled to himself with a light smile on his face. "No, not stupid, I love you, I can't live without you, please forgive me, my lady..."

(Un)luckily for both of them, she was already on the ground and couldn't hear him as she started to make her way home.

-p

"You know, Nooroo, there is only one way to check if my attempts are vain," thought Gabriel aloud. "I will send one last akuma, and if Ladybug doesn't show up, I'm giving up being Hawkmoth. But if she does... I have to think about it."

Nooroo sincerely hoped Ladybug was smart enough to not give herself away.

Aloud, he said, "It's a wise choice, master."


End file.
